07/10/2022
To the skaters, coaches, officials and fans of the Aerial Figure Skating Challenge:
I am writing this post to inform you that this year‘s event will not happen. I take full responsibility for not initiating the planning soon enough to finalize the sponsorship, streaming and invitation details.
Since its inception in 2015, this event has awarded over $100,000 in prize money to developmental US skaters in order to supplement their training. Aside from the “big” names including Nathan Chen, Alyssa Liu, Vincent Zhou, Jason Brown, Mirai Nagasu, Bradie Tennell, Max Aaron, Amber Glenn, Camden Pulkinen, Tomoki Hiwatashi, Andrew Torgashev, Jimmy Ma, Alexey Krasnozhon and Paige Rydberg, who have either won the event or participated, many other skaters have competed in it over the last seven years. Celebrity judges have included Michael Weiss, Kimmie Meissner, Kitty Carruthers, Jill Trenary, Todd Eldredge, Elaine Zayak, Paul Wylie, Rachael Flatt, Frank Carroll and Carol Heiss.
The event, originally my brain child, continues to be my pet project and has grown considerably in different ways since my meeting with David Raith and then President Sam Auxier over breakfast at the US Championships in 2015. With the help of Audrey Weisiger and Mitch Moyer as well as many staff members at US Figure Skating, the event has had many formats including virtual, pair teams at Champs Camp, back flippers and a team event which kicked off the 2018 Olympic season but it ALWAYS has been about the skaters having fun, jumping for the audience to their favorite pop songs, and risking technical jumping skills in a low key competition in order to get experience for major competitions.
I am happy to report that Edea from Skates US was very interested in continuing their sponsorship this year. I even considered moving the event from the Broadmoor Open to another competition and I’m quite confident that will happen in the future. Next year’s event will feature two new distinct rounds that will add to the creativity and drama of the competition.
In the meantime, if you would like to make a donation to the Aerial Figure Skating Challenge Go Fund Me page you can click on the link below. Please know that 100% of the sponsorship money over the last seven years has gone entirely to the skaters. The prize money has always been distributed through the Broadmoor Skating Club. The event never makes a profit and any left over money is kept in the AFSC account and applied toward the following year’s prize money purse.
Please check out the event on Facebook and YouTube. I look forward to a reset for the event in 2023!
Tom Zakrajsek
Go Fund Me:
Hi, my name is Tom Zakrajsek and I am fundraising for the 2023 Aerial Figure Skating Ch… Tom Zakrajsek needs your support for Aerial Figure Skating Challenge
